Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) argued that former President Donald Trump has “more reason” to challenge the results of this election cycle than in 2020, specifically due to how the former president faces potential jail time.
Trump has claimed numerous times since leaving the White House that he did not lose the 2020 presidential election against then-presidential candidate Joe Biden, with Schiff predicting a similar response from Trump should he lose the 2024 election against Vice President Kamala Harris. Ahead of the election next month, the former president has been in several legal battles while on the campaign trail, which Schiff referenced when predicting Trump’s potential objection to the 2024 election results.
“He has more reason to contest it than he did before, not because of any flaw in the election, but because Donald Trump believes, and perhaps with reason, that if he doesn’t succeed at the ballot box, he may be going to jail,” Schiff said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “So he’s going to challenge the results, and we saw tragically what happened when he did that four years earlier. And what’s more, we see him laying the same foundation to fraudulently challenge the results once again, putting up the same big lies that he put out four years earlier.”
Schiff was one of many Democrats who called on Biden to suspend his reelection campaign following the first presidential debate and also suggested Harris could win “overwhelmingly” against Trump. When asked if he still believes this to be the case, he argued Harris can still claim victory, though the race is currently “scary close.”
Earlier this month, a key filing from special counsel Jack Smith was unsealed by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, in which prosecutors claim that Trump responded “so what” when he was told then-Vice President Mike Pence was in danger on Jan. 6, 2021. Schiff argued the timing of this filing’s unsealing was appropriate about a month ahead of the 2024 election, as the Supreme Court dragged its feet on deciding whether former presidents have any immunity.
Schiff was then pushed on why he supports the timing of Smith’s filing getting unsealed when he was previously critical of FBI Director James Comey for reopening the investigation into presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s emails shortly before the 2016 election. The California congressman defended his stance, as Comey “unilaterally” deciding to investigate Clinton was “a very different circumstance” compared to Smith’s filing getting unsealed.
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Legal analyst Jonathan Turley cautioned that the timing of this filing could “backfire” on the case’s prosecutors. He also said Smith’s briefing was an attempt to make “his closing election argument to voters because he knows that the 2024 election will be the largest jury verdict in history.”
Trump argued on Thursday that the federal charges related to his alleged efforts to interfere with the 2020 election should be dismissed, citing the Supreme Court’s ruling on Jan. 6 rioter Joseph Fischer. The rioter’s conviction under an obstruction statute was overturned by the Supreme Court, with Trump’s legal team arguing the same statute is misapplied in Smith’s federal case against the former president.